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America's wildest wildcatter, Aubrey McClendon, found new life -- and new billions -- after his spectacular plunge from the top of the oil game. Trouble has already come calling.

In early 2013, during his last days as CEO of , Aubrey McClendon was one busy guy. Chesapeake's board gave him the boot following a litany of accusations about his rampant conflicts of interest, lavish perks, reckless bets and failure to disclose that he had personally borrowed around $1 billion, some from Chesapeake's own lenders. But before leaving the building, McClendon allegedly gave himself a parting gift. According to a lawsuit filed by Chesapeake in February, he had his assistant print out highly sensitive maps of oil and gas prospects in Ohio's natural-gas-rich Utica shale formations, and he e-mailed more proprietary and valuable information to his private account.

McClendon set up a new operation--American Energy Partners--in offices up the street from Chesapeake's Oklahoma City campus. He found a deep-pocketed partner in John Raymond, CEO of $15.5 billion Houston private equity outfit Energy & Minerals Group (and son of legendary Exxon CEO Lee Raymond). McClendon quickly got to work: By the time Chesapeake filed its lawsuit alleging theft of secrets, American Energy's Utica affiliate had already bought up more than $1.5 billion of acreage.

As for those allegations of theft? "I am entitled to possess and use the 20 terabytes of information I own," McClendon said in a press release. "It is a sad day to see Chesapeake stoop so low as to sue its cofounder for having information that was earned, paid for and provided through my contracts with Chesapeake." Through a spokesman, McClendon tells FORBES he expects to be vindicated in arbitration. Raymond declined to speak with FORBES.

Regardless of who's right, one thing is clear: McClendon's life after Chesapeake has been every bit as outrageous as you'd expect for the man who FORBES in 2011 dubbed "America's Most Reckless Billionaire" after a 22-year run leasing up more than 13 million acres of land across ten states. He built Chesapeake from nothing in 1989 into the juggernaut of America's fracking boom, with an enterprise value of $30 billion and more natural gas production than any other American company save . He clocked in then at No. 359 on The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, with a personal net worth of $1.2 billion.

McClendon may have fallen far off the list since then, but he's done nothing to diminish his reputation as the world's wildest wildcatter. In just over two years McClendon, via American Energy Partners, has spent more than $10 billion of other people's money (about $5.9 billion in equity leveraged up with $4.5 billion in debt) to acquire about 600,000 acres in Ohio, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Texas for oil and gas exploration. Raymond's EMG has put up some $3.5 billion. First Reserve, the energy-focused private equity giant, chipped in most of the rest, with McClendon contributing $200 million of his own, according to a spokesperson. (McClendon declined interview requests from FORBES.)

But just as it did at Chesapeake, McClendon's fast-and-loose style could be catching up with him. Thanks to the implosion of oil and gas prices, billions of dollars of top-of-the-market asset purchases are likely slipping underwater, and his burgeoning empire is at risk. He's now looking to raise billions more from investors, betting a rise in prices will vindicate him and reap huge profits.

The first sign of trouble came in early 2015, when Raymond removed McClendon as CEO of American Energy's Appalachia affiliate, replacing him with Jeff Fisher, a former top executive at Chesapeake. Raymond also negotiated a settlement between that company and Chesapeake over those theft allegations; in April American Energy agreed to hand over 6,000 Ohio acres and pay Chesapeake as much as $25 million. McClendon's spokesman says it would be a mischaracterization to say that Raymond's settlement was done behind McClendon's back, though he wasn't party to it (McClendon is still in arbitration with Chesapeake over its personal claims against him). The episode strained relations between Raymond and McClendon, according to sources, though a spokesman for McClendon insists, "It's my understanding that Aubrey and John remain great friends and strong partners, and are in constant communication."